If you’ve searched the internet looking for ways to witness to Mormons,
one of the popular questions that pops up on many Christian ministry sites is about God creating man in His own image. One site poses the question this way –
‘Since Mormonism teaches that only God the Father had a physical body at the time Adam was created, why did God say, “Let us make man in OUR image”? Why didn’t He say, “Let us make man in MY image?”’
It’s a great question, and one I highly recommend Christians use when witnessing to Mormons! There’s a few questions that come to mind when using this topic we’re looking at in today’s Mormon dilemma.
First things first, let’s look at what Genesis 1:26 says and consider some of the Mormon arguments you may encounter with this.
Genesis 1:26; “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
The flip side of this is the Mormon’s answer, and what their beloved prophet wrote. Joseph Smith said the following in his inspired version of the Bible, aka, the Joseph Smith Translation (JST). According to Smith, this is a non-issue with the JST.
JST Genesis 1:27; “And I, God, said unto mine Only Begotten, which was with me from the beginning, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and it was so.”
If/when they do this, we should ask why the Church’s official website still contains the standard KJV scripture and not the JST. You can access it here.
As a matter of fact, the only time the JST shows up on their site is when it’s couched in an article somewhere.
For example, an article from almost 30 years ago (January 1986 Ensign), spoke about this very subject in the JST. However, if or when you want further info on Joe’s Bible, you’ll be searching for awhile and using a specific topic, with specific terms.
While I’ve seen some LDS missionaries using the JST, it’s sporadic at best. We’re wondering why they’re not parading this thing around like they do the Book of Mormon?
Now back to Genesis 1:26…
You might ask how God could create man in the image of Jesus if Jesus was merely a spirit at this point in the pre-existence.
Furthermore, how could Jesus create mankind if he was just a spirit child of God?
Remember, Smith claimed the Mormon god earned godhood status, was granted his own planet, and then begat billions of spirit babies. This god named his two oldest spirit babies Jesus and Lucifer, respectively. See Abraham 3:22-28.
And finally, if the Bible was translated incorrectly, why did Joe Smith continue to use its text? Why didn’t this god of his impart a totally new scripture for mankind like the god of Islam did for Mohammed?
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